Vox Populi
by Defying.The.Silence
Summary: They call it destiny, we call it fate. They call it a honor, we call it death. They call it a new begining, we call it our inevitable end. Only one of us can live and only 23 of us can die. This could be the game that changes it all...
1. The Chosen

**Edit: Haha, let's do this again. This is the LEGIT tribute list…I swear.**

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_**V**__o__**x **__P__**o**__p__**u**__l__**i**_

**:The Chosen:**

**-District One-**

_**Male: **__Azazel Saffell_ _(18) Maxrider1_

_**Female: **__Pearl Ivy Richards (17) Bianca666_

**-District Two- **

_**Male: **__Anuke Lange (17) Blood bath character_

_**Female: **__Lamina Ruth Odel (13) Madigan Keen_

**-District Three-**

_**Male: **__Telsa Drake (18) Peggy Olson _

_**Female: **__Zanya Polyoxyl (18) Call Me Bitter_

**-District Four- **

_**Male: **__Saffron Kain (17) .Silence. _

_**Female: **__Neala Rinee (15) FlittlerCherub_

**-District Five- **

_**Male: **__Cloud Mars Rivera (17) zDarkAngles_

_**Female: **__Lucy Chessa (15) Alatricity_

**-District Six- **

_**Male: **__Riden Pisces (17) DarkzerkerX _

_**Female: **__Mirajane Alberone (16) .angel_

**-District Seven-**

_**Male: **__Allegro Jay Crasendio (17) Ssweet2014_

_**Female: **__Jaele Illum (15) Blood bath character _

**-District Eight-**

_**Male: **__Jonagold Lennon (16) Dance All Night_

_**Female: **__Kexa Velane (16) Rue-the-maruder_

**-District Nine-**

_**Male: **__Rave Juntei (18) Blood Bath Character _

_**Female: **__Sylvia Retana (14) Rue of District 11_

**-District Ten- **

_**Male: **__Piper Lark (16) The Violet Queen _

_**Female: **__Cordelia Wren Harlow (16) Chrissy Grace_

**-District Eleven-**

_**Male: **__Kazumi Elfonn (15) Azlira __**(I hope you don't mind I made him 15…) **_

_**Female: **__Erika Seilhammer (17) Nureta Senbei_

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_**A/N: **_**Oh goodness, I didn't think picking characters would be such a hard thing to do! I apologize to those who didn't make the cut...It's just that I NEEDED at least some characters to die in the bloodbath, and I think having your character die in the bloodbath is worse than your character not being chosen at all. Unless you would like to argue that...**_

_**As to those who's character did make the cut...Congratulations-kind of. I am a rather busy lady and updates will most likely occur only once a week. **__Then why the heck are you writing this? __**TO MAKE YOU SUFFER! Haha, no. Writing is to me as partying is to rock stars. I LOVE writing and when I have free time, this is how I want to spend it...Writing this story. If you don't like it, don't read the story. Simple as that. **_

_**Other business:**_

_**Review- They are much appreciated, but hey, I know we all have lives and sometimes we have no time for reviewing. I'm not going to kill off your character just because you didn't review a chapter or something. BUT, please, at least leave me a review every two chapter...Just so I don't think you just dropped off a character and ran. That is like a hit and run. Hit and runs aren't good, are they? **_

_**Sponsors- I will NOT be doing the whole,**__ leave a review and your character gets 100 sponsors points__**, or something related to that. I find it as a hassle for you guys and a whole lot of extra work for me. Or maybe it's because I despise math with a passion...Nahh. :) However, I will be putting a poll onto my profile I can see what characters y'all like. **_

_**Title- You may have noticed I changed the title to **__Vox Populi__**. I finally figured out a plot for this story...and the title relates to it. Make of it as you wish. The titles for most chapters will also be in Latin. I like Latin almost as much as I like squirrels. And that's saying a lot. :) Yup, I'm a lunatic. Deal with it. **_

_**Well, that's it...I think. ^.^**_

_**Todoloo! **_

_**-Kaylin**_

_**Defying. The. Silence. **_


	2. Sub Silentio

**Disclaimer: I do NOT claim any rights to the Hunger Games Trilogy or any of it's characters. They belong to the amazingly talented Suzanne Collins.

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Piper Lark

**District 10**

_**Sub Silentio **_

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_**The morning of the reaping:**_

Silence.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Absolute silence.

There was no pitter patter against the loosely laid floor boards, nor was there any voices or whispers. A particularly strange occurrence in the Lark household. A normally strange occurrence on any other day besides the day of the reaping, that is.

A boy, the awkward age of sixteen, rose from his bed confused by the lack of sound. By now, he usually heard his mother tinkering around in the kitchen or his sister banging on his door, yelling for him to wake up. But today, there was nothing.

His dark brown eyes surveyed the room, and suddenly it all came back. His nice reaping clothes were folded neatly on top of his old oak chair that stood by its self in the corner. His worn black shoes sitting by side by side next the legs of the chair. No light shined through his windows, another normality of the day of the reaping.

_It's like time itself has stopped,_ the boy thought, slowly rising from his bed. He tip-toed over to the door of his room, careful not to disturb the deafening silence. He peaked around the corner, seeing his father at his usual leather chair with his face hidden by the daily news paper. His mother was sitting on the couch on the closest cushion to her husband, her young daughter's head on her lap.

The mother's hand soothed its way through the girl's short black hair, her face completely blank. The young girl laid motionlessly against the holey couch, her eyes staring at the ceiling. The father's eyes gawked at the words on the new paper, re-reading the same sentence over and over.

Piper took a step back, taking in the sight that was before him. All of this, the staring, the silence, the fear…it was all for him. Year after year, the same scene unfolded in front of him, year after year, this scene killed any happiness or hope that usually thrived through his body.

Yet, year after year, Piper still presented himself with his usual charming charismatic self. It was the only thing he could do to keep some sort of sanity in himself and more importantly, his family.

_Time to lighten up the mood_, Piper thought to himself as he let out a big yawn and skipped nonchalantly into the main room.

"Good morning mom, dad, Aria. Why so glum?"

The family awakened from their silent trance, and fixated their selves on Piper's grinning face. The mother couldn't help but take a mental photo of his face, storing it into her memory just in case. The father looked up from his new paper for a second, then looked back down. The girl just rolled her grey eyes.

"Cut the act Piper, we all know you're as scared as the rest of us."

_Typical Aria_, Piper thought.

Aria, the youngest of the Lark family, was unlike most children of her age. At first thought, a nine-year-old would be classified as young, oblivious, and innocent, but not Aria. She knew what the reaping was all about, and she knew this could very well be the last morning she could be with her brother. She knew the horrid reality of the Hunger Games, unlike many children who saw the Hunger Games as some kind of fairytale. Aria had no innocence, in reality, no one had innocence anymore.

_The moment you are born into this world full of fear and sadness, the innocence is sucked right out of you, _Piper once thought.

"That, my dearest sister, is where you're wrong." Piper said, ruffling his hand through his sister's short pixie-like hair.

"Jerk." She retorts, batting away his hand.

"Hobbit."

"Troll.'

"Gnome."

"Ogre."

"El-"

The father sighed, folding up his news paper and setting it on the ground next to him. He stood up, taking one step towards his bickering children.

"Now, now children. We mustn't have meaningless spats on a day such as this one."

Aria and Piper immediately silenced their selves, their eyes looking at the floor in a guilty manner.

Cadence Lark wasn't a man of many words, but in the rare moments where he did speak, his words were spoken with an overwhelming charisma and insight. It was hard, if not impossible, to defy Cadence and his words in any such ways. Piper once believed his father was some sort of super hero, with the ability to compel anybody. He has yet to debunk his belief.

"Yes father." The two said in unison.

"Why don't you two go into town and pick me up some ingredients at the market." Allegra suggested, in her usual kind voice. "We have a big day a head of us. With the lunch and, well, you know."

Allegra's head dropped before ending her sentence, refusing to look at her son. Piper noted that his mother wasn't the only one with her head dropped.

He knew this could very well be his last reaping. Not only that, but the last time he could see his family as well. It's been this way ever since the day he turned 12 and it won't stop until the day Aria turns 19.

"Yeah, come on Ari." He says, putting his hand on Aria's shoulder. "We can pick up Harper along the way."

Aria let out a big sigh as they walked out the door. "_Fabulous_."

**···**

"-And I was all like: _Goodness, I'm with you both every single freaking day of my life, I don't know how this day can make much of a difference._" Harper Reed exclaimed, her green eyes full of life. "I mean, really? My parents need to lighten up and smell the daisies. Don't you agree Piper?"

Piper's eyes surveyed the ground, counting the number cracks he managed to step over. Piper wasn't the one to believe in silly superstitions, such as a black cat taking away luck or breaking a mirror will give you seven years of bad luck. But when it came to the age old saying: _Step on a crack, break your mother's back_, Piper wasn't willing to take the risk.

"Ugh, Piper, are you even listening?" Harper asked, with her arms crossed. Not waiting for an answer, she carried on with her rant.

Harper Reed was a rather opinionated girl and was certainly not afraid to speak her mind. She was the only child in family and her parents smothered her to the point she couldn't breath. Harper looked to Piper to listen to her rants, for he was the only one that would listen.

"I mean, all I want is to spend at least a couple hours with my two best friends," Harper put her arm around Piper and Aria's shoulders. "It's like they don't even care about _my _feelings. Don't you both agree?"

Piper simply shrugged his shoulders, not completely agreeing with his friend's little rant. "Harper, I think-"

"I mean, seriously! They need to-"

"Harper, _SHUT UP_!"

Piper looked down at his little sister, surprised by her sudden outburst. She was breathing hardly and her fists with clenched.

"All you do is complain and complain about how much you hate your parents and how you wish you were born into another family. And all I want to do is get away from you and spend some time with mine!" She paused, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Can't you appreciate what you have? You'll never know what you have until you lose it. And I could lose Piper today."

Aria avoided contact with her brother's eyes. She knew what she just said was mean and hurtful, but it was dead truth. Harper never appreciated anything and in this world you've got to appreciate everything. Aria dropped her fists and did the first thing that came to mind…run.

"Aria!" Piper called, watching as his sister run down the path that led to his house.

Piper looked down at Harper, who was just standing there with her eyes wide open. He couldn't deny that his sister's words were false. She said the things he'd always wanted to tell Harper, but could never find the place in his heart to speak them.

Piper walked over to Harper and placed his hand on her trembling shoulder.

"Harper, I-"

Harper shook her head and ran the opposite way, leaving Piper all alone.

He looked back and forth between the opposing paths, wondering which one to follow. He only could only wish he could have more opportunities like this, to make a choice, instead of the glass ball making them for him. _If only_, he thought, _if only. _

_The running footsteps of Harper's died off and the prairie around him made no sounds. _

_Piper was once again surrounded by the one thing in this world that he feared the most. _

_Silence. _

_Nothing more, nothing less. _

_Deafening Silence. _

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A/N: _Oh goodness, sorry it took me so to update dearies! I blame my AP classes, the ACT, and the snowstorm that kept me stranded at my grandma's house. Stupid snow. :P Good news though, I got this chapter up and I'm over the cold that has haunted me for the past two months! Bad new: This actually supposed to be the second chapter, but I felt urge to write this one first. Yes, I'm crazzzyyyy. Oh, more good news: I finally figured out how I'm going to go about writing this story! Got the plot down, the first (second) chapter uploaded, and the final outline made. I'm rather proud of myself!_

So, tell me what you think of this chapter. It's my first time writing something in third person omniscient, tell me how I did and how I can improve.

Kudos points to the person who can figure what song the line, "Deafening Silence" came from.

Reviews are appreciated my dearies. :)


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